ST KILDA'S reigning best and fairest Jack Steven could face a spell on the sidelines as he struggles to regain fitness after his pre-season foot fracture.
The explosive midfielder was kept to 15 disposals in the Saints' 32-point loss to Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Monday night, in his fifth game back from the injury.
Saints coach Alan Richardson said the club will consider resting the 24-year-old as he goes through a "conservative" training program geared for him to be fit enough to play on match day.
"He's in that situation now where we need to sit down and have a chat about where he's at," Richardson said after the Carlton loss.
"If we can get some more work into him then I think we'll keep going. If it is that we think not, perhaps he needs to have a break. We'll assess that throughout the week."
Steven suffered the injury in February's NAB Challenge series and had averaged more than 25 disposals a game this year before the Carlton loss. Richardson said he hasn’t been completing the full training load.
"When you've had a lay-off, a considerable lay-off, you've almost got to have a mini-pre-season to get back to the level," he said.
"He's doing what most of the other guys are doing, but he hasn't been able to do that bit extra to get him into really good midfield running shape."
The Saints fought hard in the Carlton loss, but ultimately lacked the polish to finish their opportunities.
A reliance on Nick Riewoldt when moving forward is also something Richardson will address, acknowledging more marking options need to present when the Saints have the ball.
The first-year coach said Arryn Siposs, in his first game of the season, played well, but that Rhys Stanley didn't continue his solid 2014 campaign.
"Rhys has been really strong for us. We think he's improved significantly this year, he's been settled down as that forward and second ruck," he said.
"He didn't have a good game tonight. He'd be the first to admit that. He's pretty disappointed with the way he played, [and] not unlike the rest of the team, he'll learn and understand how important he is to our structure forward of the ball.
"We had a lot of passengers tonight, so I wouldn't necessarily single out Rhys, but he didn't have a great game."
The Saints have lost five of their past six games and meet Gold Coast next Sunday before having their bye in round 10.
